With recent developments in the wireless communication, use of wireless communication devices has become almost ubiquitous. These wireless devices include laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones, as well as plethora of other wireless devices (car navigation devices, user-wearable navigation devices, and the like). Most, if not all, wireless devices are equipped with geo-position devices (for example, those using GPS technology for determining geo position of the wireless device, those using triangulation techniques, or the like).
Most of these wireless devices are further equipped with mapping and/or navigation applications (jointly referred herein below as a map application). A typical map application provides maps of various regions, for example, the user can use the map application to request a map of downtown of London, UK. The user can request such map by various means: by using the geo-location functionality of the wireless device (and a function known as “places near me” or a similar functionality of wireless devices), by typing in a postal code or a full address, etc.
Some of these map applications overlay Points of Interest (POIs) information over the map information displayable on the map. Generally speaking, a POI is any object that can be overlaid over the map information and that the user of the electronic device may find useful. Examples of POIs include: museums, shopping centers, banks, parks, statutes, government buildings, historical buildings, and the like. The map application can display POIs in response to a user geo-query. For example, the user may enter a geo-search query reading: “Display restaurants near me”. In response to receiving such geo-query, the electronic device transmits the geo-query to the mapping server and receives therefrom a set of ranked search results—POIs relevant to the geo-query. The map application then generates POI labels and overlays them over the map information based on geo-location information associated with each of the POIs in the ranked set of search results.
US 2016/0365072 discloses an improved navigation application that can generate and display a composite representation of multiple POIs when POI icons representing the POIs appear to be overlapping. Some embodiments display the composite representation when a certain zoom level is reached for a map including the multiple POI icons. In some embodiments, the navigation application can determine POIs that may be of interest to the user based on the user's attributes and activity history and generate the composite representation based on those attributes. The composite representation can include multiple POI icons that are displayed adjacent to each other such that a user of the navigation application can readily identify POIs that are likely to be of interest to the user within a region.
US 2016/0071298 discloses a loading method and apparatus for a map label. The loading method comprises: in response to an instruction to scale up a map, searching for a newly added point of interest in a current visible area of the map after it has been scaled up with respect to the map before it has been scaled up; inheriting a label of an original point of interest of the map before it has been scaled up in the current visible area; and performing collision detection and loading on a label of the newly added point of interest. Compared to the prior art, the present invention can significantly improve the visual experience of a user when loading a map.
US 2015/0095150 discloses methods, apparatuses, and devices for generating maps on a display of, for example, a mobile device, are presented. In one example, a server, such as a map server, may organize a data structure corresponding to a map based, at least in part, on a received query, estimated location, and/or a current route of a mobile device user. Points of interest (POIs) that may be more relevant to a mobile device user may be transmitted from a map server, for example, prior to POIs that may be less relevant. In one example, a plurality of POIs may be rendered on a display of a mobile device. One or more POIs may be emphasized on the display based on one or more criteria.